A pleasant Monday to you. Quintin Berry is rewarded for his solid 2007 with the #18 spot, edging out D’Arby Myers. Hit the voting for #19 today, and if you haven’t done so, check out my Q/A with Keith Law, and also my Q/A with Joe Savery which will be up momentarily.
01. Carrasco
02. Cardenas
03. Savery
04. Costanzo
05. Outman
06. Carpenter
07. Marson
08. Donald
09. Drabek
10. Happ
11. Harman
12. Golson
13. Jaramillo
14. E Garcia
15. Brown
16. Bastardo
17. Bisenius
18. Berry
Another very close 3 way vote yesterday, with Joe Bisenius edging ahead of Quintin Berry and D’Arby Myers. Will it be a tossup between those two today, or does a guy like Drew Naylor or Freddy Galvis sneak in? Vote away.
01. Carrasco
02. Cardenas
03. Savery
04. Costanzo
05. Outman
06. Carpenter
07. Marson
08. Donald
09. Drabek
10. Happ
11. Harman
12. Golson
13. Jaramillo
14. E Garcia
15. Brown
16. Bastardo
17. Bisenius
From Baseball America today
“He’s improved so much,” the scout said. “I know that’s hard to believe given the amount of strikeouts he’s had, but I’m a believer and I know I’m far from the only one.
“I didn’t think he’d ever have the tools to play when I saw him as an amateur–he was just real rough at the plate and I didn’t think he’d have enough instincts, but his tools are very, very good.
“It doesn’t surprise me he led the minors in strikeouts because he’s still a is a top-hand, layout guy that’s knobbed up right away so the low pitch–wherever it is in the zone–is going to kill him.
“But he’s an 80 arm with 80 speed . . . those guys with those kind of tools . . . if he figures it out . . . wow. He could be a late bloomer.
“This is one of those guys that you don’t ever want to give up on despite what the numbers say. You fall in love with him. It’s hard not to. And this is a smart kid who just turned 22. If he leaves his brain in the clubhouse and just goes out there and reacts, he’s one of the best prospects in the game. I know that can be a pretty big if with some guys, but you can’t just throw this guy away.”
Close vote yesterday, with Antonio Bastardo edging out Quintin Berry, and Joe Bisenius gaining some support as well. Should be a close vote today.
01. Carrasco
02. Cardenas
03. Savery
04. Costanzo
05. Outman
06. Carpenter
07. Marson
08. Donald
09. Drabek
10. Happ
11. Harman
12. Golson
13. Jaramillo
14. E Garcia
15. Brown
16. Bastardo
Here’s a snippet from a Baseball America AFL report today
Numbers aside, Overholt is a reliever. His stuff tended to flatten out, often after just three innings in Double-A in a starting role. And while his slider is viewed by many in the organization to be the best in the system, it wasn’t impressive Tuesday.
“I didn’t see enough of it today to say it was a good slider,” said one scout from a National League club. “He didn’t throw it enough to really say if it was good or bad, but the ones he did throw were fringy.
“I wound up comparing him to (Nationals closer) Chad Cordero after seeing him today as not being a real velocity guy, but a guy who has a heavy ball with some arm side sink that comes right at you. But I didn’t see a guy who would be a go-to guy coming out of your bullpen. He’s not that kind of a Cordero, but his ball is really heavy. I didn’t see that kind of stuff from him with the breaking ball, but he’s got good sink (with the fastball) at times.”
A 2005 22nd-round pick out of Santa Clara, Overholt had never started in pro ball until this season.
“It seems like he could be good in short spurts with a two-pitch mix,” said another NL scout. “But he shouldn’t mess with more than that.”
I liked Overholt heading into last season as a reliever, the Phillies chose to start him, and it looks like it may have set his ETA back a year. I noted his great groundball tendencies when he was on top of his game, and that is confirmed by the scout who noted the “heavy ball” he throws. Overholt is a possible 6/7th inning guy at this point, but probably not until mid 2008 or later.
Another close vote yesterday, as I suspect they all will be from here on out, with Dominic Brown just edging out fellow toolsy OF D’Arby Myers and Antonio Bastardo.
01. Carrasco
02. Cardenas
03. Savery
04. Costanzo
05. Outman
06. Carpenter
07. Marson
08. Donald
09. Drabek
10. Happ
11. Harman
12. Golson
13. Jaramillo
14. E Garcia
15. Brown
Just a little update on our players in the AFL and Hawaiian Winter League
AFL
Greg Golson: 20 AB — .250/.238/.400 — 0 BB — 3 K — 3 XBH
Mike Costanzo: 17 AB — .059/.200/.235 – 3 BB – 10K — 1 XBH (HR)
Tuffy Gosewich: 6 AB — .333/.333/.333
Josh Outman: 2 IP — 2 ER — 2 H — 1 BB — 2 K — 1 HR
Joe Savery: 2 IP — 0 ER — 1 H — 1 BB — 2 K
Joe Bisenius: 4 IP — 0 ER — 1 H — 1 BB — 4 K
Pat Overholt: 2.2 IP — 2 ER — 2 H — 1 BB — 2 K
HWL
Ronald Hill: 9.1 IP — 9 ER — 14 H — 6 BB — 9 K
Andrew Cruse: 11.0 IP — 4 ER — 10 H — 4 BB — 6 K
Edgar Garcia wins yesterday’s duel, and today we round out the top 15. Still a handful of quality prospects left, should be interesting to see how the next 5-6 spots pan out.
01. Carrasco
02. Cardenas
03. Savery
04. Costanzo
05. Outman
06. Carpenter
07. Marson
08. Donald
09. Drabek
10. Happ
11. Harman
12. Golson
13. Jaramillo
14. E Garcia
Before we get to today’s vote, just a quick programming note. Hopefully in the next week or two I’ll be posting a Q/A with Joe Savery and another one with Keith Law from EPSN.com. Not sure when yet, but keep an eye out for them in the coming days. Jason Jaramillo wins the vote at #13. I saw a few people questioning how a “backup catcher” can be that high. I think that’s a bit harsh, to be honest. Jaramillo’s 2007 OPS was killed by an awful May, and if you remove that month, his overall numbers look a bit better. When considering prospects, you have to not only calculate how good they can be, but what the likelihood is of them reaching their potential. The odds of Jaramillo being a major leaguer are much better than that of, say, Dominic Brown, at this point in time. That’s not to say Brown isn’t a prospect, but maybe a few people just like the probability of JJ over the high ceiling of Brown.
Anyway, onto today’s vote. Update
01. Carrasco
02. Cardenas
03. Savery
04. Costanzo
05. Outman
06. Carpenter
07. Marson
08. Donald
09. Drabek
10. Happ
11. Harman
12. Golson
13. Jaramillo
Today we vote for lucky #13. So far, looking at the list you guys produced, we have a solid Top 12, and we have another handful of guys who should at least contribute at the major league level at some point. My list is going to look different, but so far, I think this has gone well.
01. Carrasco
02. Cardenas
03. Savery
04. Costanzo
05. Outman
06. Carpenter
07. Marson
08. Donald
09. Drabek
10. Happ
11. Harman
12. Golson
